


face the fire

by Skrigget



Category: Batman (Comics), Batman - All Media Types, Batman and Robin (Comics), Red Robin (Comics)
Genre: Angst and Hurt/Comfort, Asexual Character, Bad Guys Made Them Do It, Brotherly Bonding, Brotherly Love, Bruce Wayne is Bad at Communicating, Creepy Ra's al Ghul, Damian Wayne Needs a Hug, Family Feels, Fluff, Growing Up Together, Happy Ending, Implied/Referenced Child Abuse, M/M, Serious Injuries, Suicidal Thoughts, Suicide Attempt, Tim Drake Needs a Hug
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-06-09
Updated: 2020-06-09
Packaged: 2021-03-04 04:48:06
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 1
Words: 9,904
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24628072
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Skrigget/pseuds/Skrigget
Summary: “Bruce doesn’t always mean it when he yells, Damian,” Timothy sighs. “He just isn’t good at expressing himself. He is worried about you too, you know. And he is glad we are both safe.”Damian closes his eyes and refuses to cry in front of his rival. Timothy doesn’t comment on it. Instead he places a gentle hand on Damian’s head for a second before he gets up and quietly exists the room again to give Damian his privacy.*Damian is 13 when he meets his father for the first time - the same age as his rival (and brother) Timothy Drake. This changes everything and nothing.
Relationships: Dick Grayson & Damian Wayne, Jason Todd & Damian Wayne, Tim Drake & Bruce Wayne, Tim Drake & Damian Wayne, Tim Drake/Kon-El | Conner Kent
Comments: 23
Kudos: 641





	face the fire

**Author's Note:**

> Title is from Lord Huron's "Brother" 
> 
> Please be aware of the warning: there is a scene that depicts an almost-suicide. Not because the character wants to die, but because of the situation they are put in. If you want to skip, stop reading at "Damian wakes up in an unfamiliar cell" and start again with "Damian wakes up from a nightmare" - I will explain what happens in the end notes. 
> 
> This is entirely self-indulgent. I have had this idea for ages and ages and I finished this months ago. I finally decided to share it with you guys in case anyone else is a sucker for Tim & Damian bonding. I just thought it would be interesting if and how their ages could change the dynamic between the two.

**Some men share brotherly love - that of Cain and Abel**

\- Andrzej Majewski

Damian meets his father the first time when he is 13 years old. He knows his mother would have preferred to wait until he is older and Jason is stronger but then she hears the rumors about a new Robin at Batman’s side and Talia al Ghul decides to act.

She sends Damian and Jason to Gotham on a windy, dark night in November. The last things she tells the both of them is this:

“Kill the replacement.”

Damian wants to make his mother and father proud, he wants to be the new Robin and fight next to Batman in Gotham.

He doesn’t know what Jason wants. He has plans, Damian knows, but they are vague and he doesn’t share them with Damian. Most of the time Jason’s mind is still foggy and his eyes are crazed. But more and more there is light swimming somewhere in the green abyss. More and more he laughs when Damian says something he finds particularly bratty.

Talia sends them together to protect one another. She sends them because, in her eyes, they are brothers.

Jason is certainly the closet Damian has ever been to having family outside of Ra’s and his mother. He doesn’t say so, but he feels comfortable next to the boy – young man – even though everyone else is afraid of him. He knows Jason is dangerous. Mother and everyone has told him over and over again. And Damian isn’t stupid. He knows what the pit does to the mind. But he trusts Jason. Not with his life, of course, but with his safety. He doesn’t think Jason will die for him, but he know Jason will kill for him – and that is more than enough.

They arrive in Gotham and Jason instantly changes. He has been acting on edge the whole way there but as soon as they set foot in the dirty, dark metropolis it is obvious how his entire demeanor changes, shifts. It’s honestly scary.

When they are standing outside the gates to the huge manor, Jason throws his head back and laughs and laughs and laughs. Not his normal, hoarse laughter that Damian has heard a handful of times. No, this is an insane, manic laughter that sends shivers down Damian’s spine and make the hairs on the back of his neck stand out.

“Good luck, little demon,” Jason says then and he grins so Damian can count his white teeth. “You’re gonna need it.”

“Where are you going?” Damian asks.

Jason just shrugs and turns around to leave. When he has taken a few steps away, he looks back over his shoulder and shouts: “Let’s make a bet, little demon. I bet I can kill the replacement first.”

Damian furrows his eyebrows. “Don’t be foolish, Todd,” he shouts back. “You are on!”

Jason just laughs and laughs and laughs.

**

The meeting itself could probably have gone a lot better. Actually, in hindsight, it probably couldn’t have gone any worse.

Damian sneaks into the cave. It’s a lot harder than anticipated but he manages (of course he does) without triggering any alarms. He takes a look around the infamous Batcave and then decides to make his way upstairs to find Robin.

He wants to make his mother proud.

He wants to work together with his father.

The only thing in his way is Timothy Drake.

He walks quietly through the big manor. He stays hidden in the deep shadows and far away from the kitchen where Alfred Pennyworth probably is. For the most part the house is very quiet. It’s evening and by his calculation Batman and Robin are not out on patrol yet.

He walks through corridor after corridor before he finally makes it the bedrooms. He walks to the doors, unsure of where Robin is. He slowly opens each and everyone.

He finds the master bedroom empty.

He finds Jason’s old room in pristine order.

He finds another room – messy but somewhat unused – before he finally finds him.

Timothy is sitting by his desk, earbuds in and bobbing his head to the music. Damian stares at the back of his head, his dark hair and his slim figure, and he has to physically repress a snort. This cannot be Robin, he thinks. This is just a civilian.

He attacks with all the might of a trained assassin.

Later, much later (years and years), he will admit that he was surprised by Timothy’s quick reaction and decent ability to protect himself. He is, however, fighting a rapidly losing battle and they both know it. Timothy’s eyes widen in fear and Damian grins at him.

This is when Dick Grayson bursts into the room with his escrima stick.

“What the hell?” he shouts and attacks Damian.

This fight is much more equal and harder to win. Damian is annoyed when he sees Timothy slip out of the door and disappear out of the bedroom. He tuts and furrows his eyebrows. He is fighting Grayson with his best sword and it’s only a matter of time before the older man makes a mistake, leaves his side or back or front open, so Damian can slice him to pieces.

Of course, it never gets to that.

Bruce Wayne enters.

Batman.

His father.

Damian is so amazed he actually stumbles and his father is quick to land the finishing blow to the back of his neck: Damian is out cold in seconds and doesn’t wake up for hours.

**

Explaining who his is after that also does not go down well. His father keeps him locked in the cave, restrained to a bed, while he runs test after test after test. Damian shouts at him, tells him he is his son, his rightful heir, but his father pretends not to hear.

Timothy stays far away from him but Dick Grayson actually comes to see him.

“Why did you attack Tim?” he asks with all the innocence of a hero.

Damian doesn’t answer. His throat hurts from shouting and his entire body aches. Somehow, along the way, he fucked up. He ruined his brilliant plan and now Batman, his father, doesn’t trust him. Doesn’t even want him.

It hurts in ways Damian doesn’t understand.

**

Father finally accepts the truth but still refuses to look at Damian. It’s obvious he doesn’t know what to do with Damian. He is, legally and biologically, his son but he also tried to kill Timothy, nearly won against Dick, and was trained by the League of Assassins.

If not for Jason, Damion could have probably stayed in the cave for a while.

As it is, however, Jason finally decides to make his entrance and attempts to kill Timothy as well by shooting him.

Damian watches as Grayson, father and Pennyworth all rushes into the cave one late night. Timothy is in father’s arms and bleeding. Everyone looks worried. It makes Damian feel a bit sick.

“What happened?!” father shouts.

“I don’t know!” Dick shouts back. “It was a masked guy, wearing a red helmet. He just shot him!”

Damian knows immediately what is going on and watches with held back breath as they remove the bullet from Timothy’s arm and stitch him together. They give him morphine and lets him sleep. They all stand around the bed, looking worried. Damian doesn’t get it. If Jason wanted to kill him, why would he shoot him in the arm?

Dick and father discuss the identity of the new villain while Pennyworth tends to Timothy and Damian watches from his captivity.

After hours he finally decides to reveal what he knows:

“I might know who it is,” he says.

They all turn to stare at him at once. Their combined gazes are honestly a bit overwhelming.

“Who is it?” Dick asks.

“We cannot trust him, Dick,” father scolds.

“He might know something, B.”

“He’s from the League of Assassins – “

“If I tell you who it is, will you let me out of here?” Damian interrupts.

“No,” father grunts immediately.

“Bruce,” Dick says, “we cannot keep him locked up forever.”

“He tried to kill Tim!”

“He didn’t know any better!”

“And what makes you think he knows better now?”

“I promise not to kill Drake,” Damian says although it leaves a sour taste in his mouth.

Bruce looks at him, then, and his eyes are dark and haunted.

Dick pulls Bruce away and they continue their discussion in hushed voices while Pennyworth checks Tim’s vitals.

It’s Dick who releases him while Bruce stares with his arms crossed.

“No more trying to kill Tim,” Dick informs him. “And you tell us the identity of the masked guy. Deal?”

The older man presents Damian with his little finger. Damian has no idea what to do with that. He glances at his father who shakes his head in anger.

“If we have a deal, you grab my pinky with your pinky,” Dick explains kindly. “That way we know the other person won’t break their promise.”

“Dick,” father hisses.

“Is this a western custom?” Damian asks confused and lifts his hand slowly.

Dick grins. “It is,” he says. “So. Deal?”

Damian considers it carefully. Father obviously doesn’t trust him and won’t trust him for a very long time. Jason hasn’t tried to contact Damian at all since they arrived and is too busy with his own revenge to care. Timothy is still a competition he wants to eliminate. Pennyworth is just a servant.

Dick Grayson seems to be his best chance at an ally and – much to his annoyance – he will need one.

So he wraps his little finger around Dick’s. “I solemnly swear not to break our promise,” he tells him.

Dick’s grin actually broadens. “Perfect.”

**

When he tells them the Red Hood’s true identity, father doesn’t believe him. He threatens to throw him back into his cell. Damian shouts that he is telling the truth. He screams about how mother saved Jason by putting him into the Lazarus Pit.

Meanwhile, Dick Grayson looks sick and Timothy Drake sleeps on, blissfully unaware.

**

In the years that follow everything and nothing changes.

Father fights Jason as Red Hood. Jason wants to kill the joker, but father refuses. Damian wants to help but he doesn’t know what to. He is not allowed to leave the manor. He trains in the cave and watches as Robin, Nightwing and Batman goes out on patrol every night.

Damian still hates Timothy Drake. Not only does the boy has his mantle and his name, but Damian failed to kill him and make his mother proud. He knows he cannot return to the League but he doesn’t feel welcome in the manor either.

Days turns into months and then Tim’s father dies.

Damian hears him cry himself to sleep from his bedroom and doesn’t move. He knows Dick Grayson would attempt to comfort him but Damian doesn’t care (he _doesn’t_ ). So he listens and listens and Tim cries night after night. Damian picks fights with him and in the beginning Tim is angry and latches out and they try to hurt each other with physical blows. Eventually, though, Tim grows dull and lifeless. He doesn’t respond to Damian’s mockery. He walks around the manor like a ghost. He tells father he isn’t sure he should be Robin and Damian feels conflicted (but _not_ worried).

Slowly, Tim recovers. Day by day he gets better. He joins the Titans. He makes friends and they visit him. Damian is still only allowed out of the manor when Dick is with him. He tries to behave because he wants to join patrol but he knows his father doesn’t trust him in the least. Dick, however, has unlimited patience and even when Damian bites and snarls and curses, Dick only sighs and tells him that the world is not as bad as Damian makes it out to be.

And then one day father disappears. Dead, they say. Just gone, others argue. They don’t hold a funeral. They tell people that Bruce Wayne is on vacation. Tim argues, over and over, that Bruce has to be alive. And Damian finds himself desperate to believe the boy. Tim is the same age as Damian (or, rather, 2.5 months older, as he likes to remind Damian haughtily) but he’s allowed to work in the Batcave unsupervised. He even goes on missions with his team.

Dick gets custody of both Tim and Damian as they are still only 14 years old. Damian says he wants to be Robin and Dick sighs heavily. Eventually, though, he seems to realize that Damian is going crazy not leaving the house much. So he gives him Red Robin instead. It’s not what Damian wants but it’s close enough and the feeling of being outside, at night, on patrol with Batman – with Dick Grayson who’s the only one who smiles at Damian – makes him almost _happy_.

Tim joins them every night he’s not with his team. Tim argues that he’s old enough to patrol on his own but Dick just snorts. He tells Tim that he either patrols with Batman and Red Robin or with the Red Hood. That makes Tim roll his eyes. Him and Jason are better these days. It helped when Jason stopped actively trying to kill him. But they are still far from friendly. Damian knows Dick keeps in contact with Jason. So does Damian, of course. He sees him every Sunday when he sneaks out of the house and joins the other man on the rooftop of his newest safehouse. Jason is different when Bruce is gone. Damian cannot explain how but if he didn’t know better he would say that Jason almost misses their father (Damian doesn’t know if he misses his father as much as he should – he hasn’t even cried, and he feels like he maybe wasn’t meant to be anyone’s son).

Father is gone for a long time. Dick accepts that he is dead. Tim does not. Damian is tormented. Mother tells him to come home to the League. She tells him that now that Bruce is gone there is no reason to stay. She tells him he should be grateful to even get a second chance after his betrayal and failure. It hurts. Damian wants to argue but he cannot because he knows she is right. He bites his tongue and watches her tall, proud figure. They are standing in a dark alleyway. They are alone. Robin, Batman and Red Hood are distracted by Talia’s assassins elsewhere. Damian opens his mouth to say something – _anything_ – when a figure lands gracefully next to him. Damian doesn’t need to turn his head to know that its Robin – he’s grown familiar to his movements by now.

Tim tells Talia to fuck off in that many words. He tells him that Damian is a Wayne, that he is staying in Gotham. He tells her that Damian is a Robin, a hero, _not_ an assassin. And Talia actually laughs. She says she understands why Ra’s is so interested in the young Robin now. Her words makes both boys stiffen instantly. But Talia turns around and walks away.

Damian doesn’t know what to say but that night he makes a cup of tea and hands it over to Tim when he’s working away in the Batcave. Tim accepts it, even though it isn’t coffee (which he’s still technically not allowed to have), with a nod and turns his attention back to screen, desperately searching for Bruce.

Damian is sent to school. It’s ridiculous but Grayson insists. Timothy is in another class but in the same year. Pennyworth drops them off every morning and picks them up every afternoon. People call them ‘brothers’ and Damian snarls that they are not. Timothy just rolls his eyes. They don’t eat lunch together except that they actually do. Damian doesn’t know how it happens but it all boils down to this: they have no friends. Timothy has friends in the hero community but at Gotham Academy he is apparently a loner; too smart, doesn’t care enough to make an effort, occupied with other things. And Damian isn’t exactly social. It’s not that he doesn’t want friends, exactly, but he was trained to kill, not to make friends.

So they eat on the grass under the big Oaktree in the courtyard. They don’t really talk but it isn’t silent either. Damian almost feels comfortable but he won’t admit that.

And then Timothy finds their father and brings him home.

Damian watches as Dick hugs father and cries. He watches as Pennyworth calls him “my boy” and even how Jason embraces him. He watches as Tim stands tall and proud as everyone apologize and tell him how proud they are. He watches it all and doesn’t know what to do with himself. He realizes that he is losing something but he isn’t sure what. A family, maybe. 

After, Dick moves back to Bludhaven and Tim is allowed to spend more time with his team. Damian is alone with his father in the manor most days and it is weird. Pennyworth makes him his favorite food but it’s not enough to calm his nerves. He waits and waits and waits for the other shoe to drop. But his father doesn’t kick him out. He doesn’t really do anything with Damian. He allows him to be Red Robin. He even goes on patrol with him although that usually end up a catastrophe. Father is a lot less patient than Grayson and he doesn’t have Timothy’s ability to just retort when Damian snarls. So they end up fighting all the time and Damian hates it.

On Tim’s 15th birthday he invites his team over. Damian tries to escape but Grayson forces him to join. It’s awkward. These people are his age and yet he has no idea what to say nor any desire to be near them. He watches as Tim laughs and eats cake and gets presents.

Damian gives him an antique camera.

On Damian’s 15th birthday he argues with his father and gets grounded. Dick is on a mission and cannot call home. Jason had a run in with Joker a few days prior so he’s locked himself in his safehouse. Pennyworth makes him his favorite food and places it outside the door. Only Timothy actually climbs in through the window. He doesn’t make any mean comments when he notices Damian’s red and puffy eyes. Instead he places a present on his desk, wishes him happy birthday, and disappears.

Tim gives him a new sketchbook.

**

“Red Robin, report,” Batman voice cuts into his head and Damian has to swallow a sigh.

“Nothing suspicious at the docks,” he says. “It must have been a false alarm.”

Batman grunts. “I’m not so sure,” he says. “Stay put.”

“But – “

“Stay _put_ , Red!” Batman growls and Damian has to bite his tongue not to shout back.

Damian sits down on the cold rooftop and looks out over the water. It’s a chilly night in Gotham and the air is crisp with the promise of winter. He shivers slightly and wraps the cape closer around him. Everything is silent and quiet and he suppresses the need to sigh.

“Robin, report,” he hears his father voice.

It is followed by Drake’s voice. “Nothing on the south side, B,” he says cheerfully. “Checked it twice.”

“Go join Red Robin,” Batman says. “I have a bad feeling about the bomb.”

“ _Batman_ ,” Damian argues. “I don’t need assistance.”

“Copy that,” Drake says and Damian rolls his eyes so hard it hurts. “Be there in five. Stay put, Red.”

“Fuck off,” Damian growls.

“Red Robin!” Batman scolds.

Damian rolls his eyes again when he swears he hears Robin chuckle on the other end. How dare he?

Damian is waiting – almost – patiently on the same rooftop when, about three minutes later, he sees a black van drive by the abandoned warehouses. Damian slowly gets up from his position and follows the car with his eyes. It’s not that it is completely unusual for there to be cars or people on this part of the docks and it is Gotham after all. But given the tip about the bomb someone had given Robin last night, Damian is more alert than usual. He watches as two men walk out of the car and into of the warehouses. Damian waits for a few seconds before he decides to follow them.

Just as he lands on in front of the warehouse, he hears Robin in his ears again. “Where are you, Red? You are moving.”

“Yes, I am,” Damian hisses back as he creeps closer to building.

“Why are you moving? What did you see?”

And it annoys Damian a little bit that Tim knows him well enough to immediately understand what must have happened.

“Suspicious people entered abandoned warehouse,” Damian quickly and quietly reports.

“Do not engage,” Batman tells him immediately and Damian stops.

“But, father, I have to,” he argues. “These could be the people we were warned about!”

“You will wait for back-up!” Batman informs him. “Robin, ETA?”

“One minute,” Tim informs.

“This is ridiculous,” Damian whispers angrily as he slowly opens the door and peeks inside the empty, dark building. “I can disarm a bomb.”

He hears his father’s warning but he is already entering the warehouse and looking around. It is impossibly dark inside so he turns the night-vision in his mask on and takes another look around.

Empty.

Utterly and completely empty.

Wherever the two men went, they have already left again.

Damian walks further into the warehouse but he has a bad feeling about the emptiness in there.

“Robin,” he hisses. “Do you see a black van?”

“What? Uh, yes, I do. Where are you? Did you go inside?”

“I told you to stay put, Red Robin!” Batman scolds.

Damian is already tuning around and heading for the door. “I’m coming out, wait for me,” he informs Robin.

“By the van?” Robin asks. Then, “I will take a closer look.”

“No,” Damian shouts. “I think the bomb might be in the van!”

“ _What_?” Robin shouts.

Damian runs then. He can faintly register Batman shouting at him – or, hopefully, the both of them – but he tunes him out as he leaves the warehouse and runs around the corner. He sighs in relief when he notices Robin is still waiting outside. The slightly older hero turns to look at him.

“Red,” he greets. “You reckon it’s inside?”

Damian nods. “Saw two men enter the warehouse but it’s completely empty now.”

Robin hums. “Sounds suspicious. Well,” he says as he walks over the van and looks inside. “Shit. Okay, you’re right, I see it.”

Damian joins him and they both look inside the van. They can just barely make out some flashing numbers in the back. It’s counting down from 2 minutes. Damian curses.

Without taking they both know what to do; this is not their first time disarming a bomb. It’s not even their first time disarming a bomb together.

Damian slowly opens the door and creeps inside. Tim opens the other door and enters from the other side. Damian slides down in front of the bomb carefully and takes a good look at it.

“What do you reckon?” Tim asks as he slides down next to him.

“It looks simple,” Damian says.

“Let’s wait and see,” Tim mumbles and then they get to work.

Exactly 1 minute and 10 seconds later, they realize their mistake. It’s not simple at all. No matter what they try, it is as if the bomb has a safety net that keeps throwing them off.

“Shit,” Tim curses.

“Robins,” Batman says. “Report, now.”

“We can’t disarm it,” Tim inform him. “It’s overly complicated, this isn’t just some simple goons.”

“Time.”

“42 seconds,” Damian answers as he continues to work.

“Get out of there,” Batman orders.

“I can do this,” Damian says and ignores the order.

“Red!” Batman shouts, unusually loud for him. “Get out _now_!”

“I can do this!” Damian shouts back. The clock reads 25 seconds.

“Red, I think it’s time to go,” Tim says.

“No!” Damian says.




“Red, we gotta go!” Tim begs.

“Just leave!” Damian shouts.

“I’m not leaving you!” Tim yells. “Don’t be an idiot.”

“Get out of there!” Jason voice cuts through over the comms. He sounds angry and maybe even worried. “You are both idiots!”

10 seconds left.

Damian lets out an annoyed yell and then he finally lets Tim drag him out of the van and run as fast as they can.

He hears the blast and feels the heat against his back. He acts on instinct when he grabs Tim by the shoulder and pulls him down on the ground. Damian throws himself on top of him and covers his body as much as he can with his own.

The noise is so loud it feels like his head it about to explode and the smell of fire is immense. He vary vaguely registers people shouting both their names but the pain is suddenly so intense he lets out a short and undignified scream and passes out.

**

“Jason is right, you know,” Dick tells them. “You are both idiots.”

He looks entirely too comfortably sitting between their two beds with an ice-cream in his hand and his feet on Damian’s bed.

“Since when did you agree with Todd, Grayson?” Damian mumbles. He’s still pretty high on painkillers.

“Since he basically saved your lives,” Dick says.

“He didn’t save our lives,” Damian argues faintly.

“Have to agree with Dames on that one, Dick,” Tim says from his own bed on Dick’s other side. He has his computer in his lap and both looks and sounds like he’s feeling a lot better than Damian. “He just called us idiots.”

“Well, if that is what it takes to get you guys out of that van, then I’m not complaining. You are _my_ idiots, after all.”

“Oh my god,” Tim sighs.

“Grayson, stop,” Damian says. He closes his eyes against the scorching pain in his back. It still throbs and burns. If he tries hard enough, he can even smell his own burnt flesh a bit.

“Oh Dami,” Grayson says and Damian opens his eyes to look at his older brother.

“Jesus, Red,” Tim mumbles. His eyebrows are furrowed and he’s stopped typing.

This is when Damian realizes he must have said it all out loud. “Fuck,” he whispers and closes his eyes again.

“What do you need, little D?”

“Nothing, Grayson,” Damian argues. “I am fine.”

Timothy snorts. “That is debatable,” he mumbles.

Damian gives him the finger instead of answering.

“Damian,” Bruce sighs, “don’t antagonize your brother.”

Damian stiffens at his father’s words but decides not to answer. He simply pulls the covers a little closer and ignores the sting that the movement brings. He wants more painkillers but Pennyworth will most definitely refuse.

“He wasn’t, B,” Tim bites, “relax, would you?”

Damian still ignores them and tries to drift off to sleep. It shouldn’t be too hard.

“If you two can’t get along,” father goes on, “I can move you upstairs, Tim.”

“This is fine, Bruce,” Tim sighs. “Honestly.”

“Maybe you both need your space,” father goes on as if he hasn’t even registered Tim’s reply. “Before you kill each other,” he adds tiredly.

“Bruce!” Tim snaps. “We are _fine_ , stop worrying. We won’t kill each other, jeez.”

Bruce just grunts and doesn’t say anything else. Damian hears him go to the Batcomputer and sit down. Next to him, Tim starts typing again and Grayson begins to talk quietly about this hilarious new TV-show he has started watching. Tim only replies with snorts of laughter every now and again but it’s enough for Grayson. Damian is lulled to sleep by the sounds of his brothers.

**

Damian is grounded for two weeks for not following orders. Tim is allowed out on patrol as soon as Pennyworth deems his injuries healed again. Damian burns with anger but he refuses to let it show. He had a screaming match with father which was frankly humiliating when he was still confined to the bed and father simply walked away.

The burns on his back are healing relatively quickly and after a week of bedrest he is allowed to walk around in the manor again. Tim is sent back to school and every day he brings Damian’s homework with him and gives it to the other boy. Damian still needs a lot of pain medicine so he gets tired easily and sleeps a lot.

When Tim comes home one afternoon, he finds Damian resting on the couch in the big living room. The fireplace is lit and there’s a cup of steaming hot tea on the floor next to Damian. He is holding a book in his hands but he is obviously not reading. Instead he is staring off into space. He is on a lot of medicine today. His back has been hurting more than usual and Pennyworth had agreed to up his normal dose. Damian is trying not to move because is stings and hurts but it’s hard not to. Every time he inhales it sends an unpleasant shiver down his spine.

“Hey, Demon,” Tim greets him and sits down on the other end of the couch. The movement jostles Damian and he winces in pain. “Shit, sorry,” Tim shouts and gets up immediately. This just makes the couch move again and this time Damian gasps in pain and feels tears leaking in his eyes. He knows it’s only partly from pain.

“Damian,” Tim says, “I’m really sorry, are you okay?”

Damian doesn’t answer him but closes his eyes. There is silent between them for a bit and then Tim sits down next to the tea on the floor.

“Damian?” he says quietly. “What’s up?”

“Hurts,” he grits out. “Leave.”

“Oh,” Tim mumbles and stays. “I thought it was getting better?”

Damian wants to hit him. “It was,” he says and inhales brokenly. “Pennyworth thinks… it might be infected.”

Tim makes a noise. “Sorry to hear that,” he says. “Shouldn’t you be in bed?”

“Drake,” Damian hisses and opens his eyes. He looks right at the other boy. “ _Leave_.”

Tim gives him a look of sympathy but doesn’t move. “I got your homework,” he says. “There’s a lot for tomorrow but I’m sure an infected wound is a good excuse not to do it.”

Damian just sighs and closes his eyes again.

After another few seconds of silence Tim opens his mouth again. “Is that all there is?” he asks.

Damian really, _really_ wants to hit him. “Is that not enough?” he bites.

“Of course,” Tim agrees. “Just, I don’t know, I’ve seen you in pain before.”

“And?” Damian growls.

“You didn’t look like this.”

Damian opens his eyes again. Tim doesn’t look like Dick does when he feels sorry for Damian. He also doesn’t look Jason. Tim looks almost passive and if Damian didn’t know him, he would say he didn’t care. But, much to Damian’s annoyance, he _does_ know Tim. Just as Timothy apparently knows him well enough to tell when he is hiding something.

Annoying bastard.

“So?” Tim asks. “You can tell me, you know. Whatever it is.”

“Why… would I want to… do that?” Damian asks brokenly through the haze of pain.

Timothy shrugs. “It might help,” he says.

Damian snorts and Timothy smirks slightly. After that they are silent again. Damian expects Timothy to stand up and leave him to wallow in his own misery but he doesn’t. He just waits, patiently, next to the tea as it slowly grows colder.

“Father yelled at me today,” Damian hears himself saying. He doesn’t even really know why.

“Ah,” Timothy says as if he had expected that. “Why?”

Damian bites down on his lower lip. “He said… my reckless behavior… had nearly gotten you killed. Again.”

Timothy’s eyes widen at this. “He said that?”

“Yes. He wanted me to… think about… my actions,” Damian goes on.

And it’s not an unreasonable request to make. Father had been right, of course, and his actions _had_ nearly killed him and Timothy both. Damian knows that; he made a mistake and he keeps thinking about what he should have done better. How he could have reacted to safe Timothy _and_ disarm the bomb. Damian hadn’t meant to yell at his father. But –

“You saved me, though,” Timothy says. “You didn’t kill me, you did the opposite. You risked your life for me.”

He says it so effortlessly, with a carefully blank face, but Damian’s heart hammers away in his chest. In his mind he can still hear his father’s voice, yelling at him, telling him how he almost thought Damian had deliberately acted recklessly to try and kill Timothy. That had hurt. It had hurt worse than the burns ever could.

“Besides,” he carries on, “if wasn’t just your fault. We both failed to disarm the bomb and get out in time. That’s not just on you.”

Damian doesn’t know what to say. Father’s words still hurt in a way mother’s hand against his cheek or his grandfather’s whip against his back never did. And Timothy isn’t his father, his words can’t fill the pit in his stomach that father’s left. Still. Timothy is something. He is family. He is Damian’s brother (though they will probably never admit it).

“Bruce doesn’t always mean it when he yells, Damian,” Timothy sighs. “He just isn’t good at expressing himself. He is worried about you too, you know. And he is glad we are _both_ safe.”

Damian closes his eyes and refuses to cry in front of his rival. Timothy doesn’t comment on it. Instead he places a gentle hand on Damian’s head for a second before he gets up and quietly exists the room again to give Damian his privacy.

**

When they are 16, they are kidnapped by Ra’s and the League of Assassins. It happens when they are patrolling the abandon warehouse at the docks together. They’ve been doing that a lot lately. They are older now. Tim’s with his team more days than not. He misses a lot of school and hacks the system so Bruce won’t be notified. Damian doesn’t say anything but he finds himself sitting under their tree in the courtyard alone. They still see each other at least once a week on patrol and these days they almost always patrol together. They even have a shared patrol route and a district of their own to protect. Damian isn’t entirely sure how it happened. It wasn’t a conscious choice. But, the fact of the matter is, Damian and Tim work well together. They are efficient. They are lethal. They are the Robins.

Timothy is telling him about something stupid Bart said and Damian is pretending not to find it amusing when all of the sudden they are surrounded.

Tim instantly calls in. “This is the Robins,” he informs them, “we are in need of backup _now_.”

“What’s happening little brother?” Dick asks instantly.

Damian swallows hard. “The League,” he answers in a tight voice as he recognizes the people surrounding them. “A lot of them.”

They put up a good fight. For a second Damian even allows himself to think they can hold them off until their family gets there. That doesn’t happen, of course. Instead they are overpowered. Damian sees Timothy get sliced with a sword and he shouts out in panic.

“Timothy!”

The other boy crumbles to the ground and Damian is too focused to notice the knife that plunges into his arm. He chokes on a shout and then immediately falls to his knees.

Poisoned blade. Of course.

The last thing he sees before he blacks out is Tim’s still figure.

**

Damian wakes up in an unfamiliar cell. It’s cold, dark and damp. And he is alone.

He looks around and tries to recognize something that can tell him where they are exactly. But the cell is deliberately spared from anything that can give something away.

Damian sits up and winces instantly. His shoulder, where he was stabbed, is throbbing painfully. The wound hasn’t been attended to at all. There’s red, dried blood on his uniform, making it stick uncomfortably to his skin. It hasn’t hit anything vital, he knows, but it’s still an inconvenience.

In his mind he sees the sword drenched in Timothy’s blood and the older boy collapsing lifelessly and he suppresses a shiver. Damian leans against the wall and resigns himself to waiting.

He stays, alone, in the cell for a long time. He doesn’t get any food or water and he can feel his strength seeping away quickly. There’s a constant pain in his shoulder and arm, and his head is throbbing as well. In the beginning he counted the minutes but they quickly turned into hours and then a day and then another. He is beginning to panic. He hasn’t seen anyone or heard anything. The silence is deafening and he has no idea what happened to Timothy. He wants to scream but he knows it won’t help anything. And, besides, his throat is too dry for him to make much of a sound.

When he was younger, he would have made a spectacle. Roared and shouted in anger, fought and screamed, kicked the wall in frustration. He is older now. And possibly also a little bit wiser. If nothing else he has learned – from a lot of kidnappings over the years, as both a Robin and a Wayne – that acting like a child rarely helps. Maybe if he had been taken alone, it would have been different. But he cannot risk that his foolish behavior in any way hurts Timothy.

So. He stays silent. He counts his breaths. In, one-two-three, out, four-five-six. In, one-two-three, out, four-five-six. Again and again and again.

Until, one day (he has no idea when), someone finally opens the cell and harsh lights floods in. He hisses and closes his eyes. Rough hands grabs him and pulls him into a standing position. His legs immediately gives out and his knees connect painfully with the ground. The person above him curses in Arabic and grabs him by his cape. Then he drags him out of the cell. Damian tries to protest to the treatment. He curses in Arabic as well, tells him to let him go, that he is a fool. He tries to pull free put he is too dehydrated; weak and tired.

He is dragged into what is essentially a throne room and Damian would snort at his grandfather’s dramatic tendencies if he had any breath left. He is dropped on the floor and he struggles to sit up so he can look around.

“Grandson,” a horribly familiar voice says. “You look pathetic.”

Damian is on his hands and knees when he sees Ra’s al Ghul in front of him. Damian snarls. Grandfather only snickers.

“The young detective is, sadly, not doing much better,” grandfather sighs and gestures to Damian’s right. The boy turns and looks and instantly wants to throw up. Timothy is unconscious on the floor. He is shaking from what looks like a fever. There’s sweat on his forehead and bruises all over his body. Damian doesn’t see any blood, at least. But that is a small mercy.

Damian turns to look at his grandfather again and snarls angrily. “What – “ he tries to say but his throat is so dry it actually hurts and comes out like a wheeze. This makes grandfather shake his head and sigh theatrically.

“You are weak,” he tells Damian almost calmly. Damian hates how his grandfather’s disapproval can still make him feel sick. “Weak, yes. But maybe not entirely useless.”

He gets up and walk towards Damian, who refuses to flinch when his grandfather points a sword at him. Damian doesn’t look away from the old man although he can hear Tim breathe brokenly and he wants to make sure he’s alright.

“I have plans, grandson,” Ra’s tells him. “And for that I need one of you. _Only_ one of you.”

Damian instantly panics. He knows what Ra’s is about to say. He knows it because Damian is an al Ghul and he cannot help but think like them. Still he hopes that his grandfather will suggest something else, something better, something they might actually both survive.

“So, I propose you kill the detective quickly, while you have the chance,” Ra’s says and then hands Damian his sword. Damian just stares at it. His heart is beating so loud it drowns out the noise of Tim’s ragged breathing. Damian doesn’t know what to do. He is too dehydrated, too hungry, too tired, too everything. He wants to kill his grandfather. He wants to, but he doesn’t. Because he is not a killer. Not anymore. And even if he was, he wouldn’t be able to lift the sword high enough to do it.

Grandfather drops the sword and it nearly hits him. Damian flinches. “Pick it up,” Ra’s sneers with disgust, “and kill Timothy. It is your last chance to redeem yourself and join us again, grandson. I am warning you. Prove that you are an al Ghul.”

Damian doesn’t know what to do, so to win time he opens his mouth and tries to speak. “What… what will – “His voice breaks pathetically. He tries to swallow but his mouth is so dry it hurts. “Will you… do… if – “

“Grandson!” Ra’s interrupts. “Only one of you will survive this. Either you kill him or he will kill you.”

“Fuck you,” Damian whispers and lies down. He is too tired. He cannot do this. He wants to sleep.

“You disappoint me greatly,” Ra’s sight theatrically. Damian would roll his eyes if he could. “But I thought you might respond like this. You were never really your mother’s son. She was too weak not to realize that.”

Damian refuses to answer but he hears Ra’s move and suddenly his voice is right next to his ear: “If you do not kill him he will die of his fever within days. He is dead either way. Why die with him?”

Damian doesn’t open his eyes. “Fuck you,” he simply answers.

“You would rather die than kill him then?”

“Yes.”

“Foolish.”

“Yes.”

“Your mother should have killed you when you were born.”

“Yes.”

“Let me give you another proposal then,” Ra’s says. “Instead of killing him, you kill yourself.”

Damian’s eyes fly open and he forces himself to turn and look at Ra’s staring down at him again. “What…”

Ra’s grins. “If you kill yourself, I will let him live. As I said, I need only one of you, and I was always rather fond of the young detective. If you choose to die, I will safe him. I will give him his medicine and treat him well. I can make sure he survives.”

Damian opens his mouth but no sounds comes out. He has no idea what to do or say. He wants to cry. He hasn’t felt like this in a long time. Maybe ever. He turns to look at Timothy who has opened his eyes now but is staring at nothing. He is pale and sweaty and shivering.

“I will give you two hours, grandson. Consider them my last farewell as a blood relative. When you slice your own throat later, you will no longer be an al Ghul.”

A man emerges from the dark shadows and grabs Damian. Damian tries to protest, tries to ask questions or get to Timothy, but he is dragged away. He is locked inside his lonely, damp cell again. A few seconds later someone appears with a bowl of rice and a glass of lukewarm water. He drinks the water immediately and then throws is all back up. He doesn’t touch the rice. He is too hungry to eat anymore.

He doesn’t need two hours. Not really. He made a decision as soon as grandfather told him of his options. Damian will do anything to keep Timothy alive. Father needs him. Grayson needs. Steph and Cass need him. Even Gordon and Todd need him. They can survive without Damian. They will maybe miss him, sure (he has been with them for nearly three years, he has his own patrol routes to cover and a spot in the hero community if nothing else) but they will be okay. Timothy has a team and friends that need him. He has to make it out of here. For everyone’s sake. Including Damian’s own.

**

When grandfather himself comes and picks him up, Damian doesn’t fight it. He lets the man drag him into the throne room where Timothy is now lying on a bed. Grandfather hands Damian his sword. Tells him he can do it however he likes. Damian can barely lift the sword. His arms shakes so much from the weight and the exhaustion (and the fear). He is on his knees. He is grabbing the blade with both hands and his blood is already coloring the blade red, red, red. He moves his throat to it, knows he will have to do this the hard way. He looks at Timothy and resigns himself to his faith. He refuses to cry. He refuses to feel sorry for himself. He refuses to hate that this is how he will leave this world. He refuses to hate his life. And he refuses to hate his death, too.

He feels the cool blade against his neck and feels the sharp pain –

– and then there’s a loud noise and Damian looks up to see Nightwing, Red Hood and Batgirl storm into the room. Damian doesn’t know what to feel or think or do. He can hear people shouting but he is so, so tired. He wants to fight, he wants to help.

Instead he drops the sword and lets darkness overpower him.

**

Damian wakes up from a nightmare. He is drenched in sweat and gasping loudly. He only just manages to run into the bathroom before he empties his stomach’s content into the toilet bowl. He gets up and rinses his mouth. He walks back into his bedroom and stares at the clock.

3.46.

He sighs heavily and crawl back under the covers. He closes his eyes and tries to force away the horrible images that hunt him when he hears a scream from the room next to his. He is awake and out of the bed before he even fully registers it. He runs into the hallway and opens Timothy’s door.

“What happened?” he growls, ready to attack.

Timothy is sitting in the bed with tears streaming down his face. He is gasping for breath and shivering slightly. Damian instantly enters the room and walks over to the boy.

“Timothy?” he asks. “What happened?”

Timothy meets his eyes and only starts to cry more. He leans forward and hides his face against his knees as he sobs loudly. Damian is alarmed but not unfamiliar with the scene. He clenches his teeth and sits down next to the bed. He places a gentle hand between Tim’s shoulder blades and waits patiently.

After about five minutes of loud sobbing, Tim finally looks at him. “You _died_!”

Damian inhales sharply. “No,” he says. “I didn’t.”

“Damian – “

“It was just nightmare, Timothy,” Damian promises him quietly. “It’s always just a nightmare, I promise.”

“Damian – “

“No.”

“You would have killed yourself!”

“Yes.”

“For _me_!”

“Yes.”

The silent tears are still streaming down Timothy’s face. Damian sighs and crawls up behind him in the bed. He wraps his arms around the shaking boy and leans his forehead against his back. Three months ago, this scene would have been impossible to imagine.

But three months ago they hadn’t been kidnapped and tortured by Ra’s al Ghul.

Timothy’s reaction to their time at Ra’s and his subsequent nightmares were a shock to everyone. Tim had been kidnapped before. He has been close to dying before. And yet, this had scarred him. This stayed with him and wouldn’t let go. This haunted him; awake or asleep.

“It was my fault,” he says, quietly, after another few minutes. “It would have been my fault.”

“No,” Damian says. “No, it was no one’s fault but Ra’s.”

He’d stopped referring to him as grandfather, even in his own mind. Damian is no longer an al Ghul, after all (it still hurts a bit to admit that).

Timothy doesn’t argue anymore and that’s a relief. Sometimes their arguments will go on for the rest of the night. Timothy will refuse to just go back to sleep. Damian knows it’s because he’s secretly afraid to dream again. To see Damian cut his own throat over and over again. Timothy had told them, later, that he had heard everything but had been too sick, too out of it, to say or do anything. In his dreams, he is always paralyzed and trying to scream at Damian not to do it. In his dreams he always fails. Timothy had only told Damian this. Not even Dick knows about his nightmares. 

They say nothing as they sit on the bed together. Timothy turns one of Damian’s hands around and traces the new scars in his palm with his fingertips. They will probably fall asleep in each other’s arms as well. It’s the only way either of them can actually get some rest. And in the morning Damian will wake up and sneak into his room and if Pennyworth notices him, he will only sigh sadly and pray that his grandsons will be okay.

**

“You’re in love with the clone.”

Tim actually spits coffee out of his nose and starts coughing. Damian pulls a disgusted face.

“ _What_?” Tim gasps. “Damian, what the fuck?”

Damian looks at his brother from the other side of the table in the diner. It’s a quarter past 4 in the morning and they have just finished an especially trying mission with the Titans. They’re not Damian’s team, not really, but he will lend them a hand when they need it. The others are at the tower or have gone home to rest. Damian and Tim probably should as well but Tim had whined about needing to taste coffee again so Damian had dragged him to their favorite diner.

“Stop swearing at me,” Damian says. “It’s true and frankly disgusting to watch.”

Tim narrows his eyes. “I have no idea what you’re talking about.”

Damian rolls his eyes. “Of course you do,” he sighs. “Everyone can see it.”

“Can see what?” Tim growls.

“The way you are drooling over him. Pathetic.”

Tim kicks under the table. Hard. “Shut up, Red. Kon is my friend. My best friend.”

“I thought Bart was your best friend,” Damian says.

“Fuck off,” Tim sighs. “Seriously. You’re ridiculous.”

“Stop being so dramatic, Robin,” Damian says. “It’s not like he doesn’t feel the same way about you.”

And this makes Tim sit up straighter. He stares at Damian, blink once, twice. He tilts his head as if calculating Damian’s word. “And how would you know?” Tim asks suspiciously.

Damian smirks. “So you admit it then? Good.”

“Damian!” Timothy whines.

“Fine,” Damian says. “Jon told me.”

“Jon? Superman’s kid? That Bruce is forcing you to babysit?”

“I am _not_ babysitting,” Damian snarls although that is exactly what he’s doing. Father had thought it would be good for Damian to have someone to mentor, so he’d paired him with Superman’s kid. The boy is five years younger and full of energy but, surprisingly, not horrible to be around.

“Sure you aren’t,” Tim smirks.

“Fine then,” Damian sighs, “I guess you don’t want to know what Kon thinks of you.”

He gets up to leave but Tim grabs his arm. “Wait, wait, _wait_.”

Damian sits down again and stares at the boy in front of him. “Pathetic,” he repeats smugly.

Tim rolls his eyes and crosses his arm across his chest. “What do you know, Red?”

Damian mirrors his posture. “Wouldn’t you like to know?”

“What do you want?”

“What will you give?”

Tim kicks him again. “Stop being difficult, okay? Please just tell me what you know?”

Damian smirks. “And why do you want to know, boy wonder?”

Tim narrows his eyes dangerously. He is silent for a few long seconds before he finally gives up. “Because I’m in love with Kon!” he gives up.

Damian actually snorts. “That wasn’t so hard, was it?”

“Please just help me, Dami,” Timothy begs tiredly.

“No name’s in the field,” Damian mumbles with a smirk. “But, okay, I have taken mercy on you, Robin. I will help you win the clone’s heart.”

Tim snorts. “Just tell me what you know.”

“It’s obvious he feels the same from the way he looks at you,” Damian says. “Yesterday he held the door open for you and when you thanked him, he blushed. Disgusting. He makes you breakfast when you sleep at the tower. He nearly had a panic attack last week when you broke your ankle because you landed wrong. Your _ankle_.”

Tim blushes. “Yes, okay, fine. But what did Jon tell you?”

And this time Damian actually laughs. “Oh, Robin,” he says, “do you honestly think the clone told _Jon_ about his feelings for you? Of course he didn’t.”

Tim looks confused for a second as the words register. Then he turns red. “Damian!” he screams and jumps over the table to choke the other boy who is still laughing menacingly.

They get kicked out of the diner even though they promise to pay for the broken window.

**

On Timothy’s 17th birthday his team throws him a surprise-party at the tower. Damian is invited. He stands in the corner, looking at Timothy’s embarrassed and red face when Kon gives him a big hug and a kiss on the cheek. Damian snorts into his cup of tea. The others know him well enough by now that they can talk and laugh with him but also leave him to his own devices. Timothy finds him later on in the evening. He’s obviously drunk but Damian won’t comment on it. Timothy doesn’t say anything particularly interesting but he sits down next to Red Robin and rests his head on his shoulder. He falls asleep like that while Damian looks through his phone calmly. No one bothers them. In fact, several members of the team sneak pictures of the two Robins practically cuddling together.

On Damian’s 17th birthday he tells his family that he isn’t really attracted to other people. Romantically or sexually. And he doesn’t think he ever will be. He calmly asks them not to make a big deal out of it. Please. And then he sits down and eats a slice of the cake Pennyworth has made. Dick immediately tells him he is proud of him. Cass gives him a kiss on the forehead and an approving nod. Duke says he has an asexual friend that he can introduce Damian to if he ever wants to talk to someone who knows what it feels like. Jason pats him on the back. And then decides to hug him. He even leans down and whispers _I’m proud of you, akhi_. Pennyworth gives him a kind and warm smile. Father seems unsure of what to do or say so he settles for a determined nod and the assurance that it will not change anything between them. Timothy stays mostly silent, though he does give Damian a smile. And afterwards Timothy joins Damian on the couch when he opens up presents. He doesn’t say anything then, either. He just rests his head on Damian’s shoulder and somehow that is more than enough.

**

On the day they graduate from High School the whole family is there. When they are waiting to receive their diplomas Damian leans toward Timothy slightly.

“How many people did you have to pay off so Father wouldn’t find out how close you were to failing because you missed almost the entirety of your last year?” he whispers.

Tim just snorts. “No one,” he mumbles back. “I hacked the systems, of course. It took fourteen hours of carefully deleting all my traces but it was worth it. Look how happy he is.”

They both look at father. He is sitting between Pennyworth and Dick. He is actually smiling. He looks _proud_ , Damian realizes and his heart misses a quick beat.

“Well,” Damian whispers, “good luck trying to explain to him you don’t want to go to university now.”

Tim groans. “I don’t get it,” he whispers back with heat, his voice already getting louder with each word. “I already work for WE and I am good at it, why is he so determined for me to get a business degree?! It’s not like – “

“Timothy and Damian Wayne,” the headmistress suddenly says and glares at them. “Is there anything you would like to share with your classmate and family?”

Damian notices that everyone is staring them and he sighs heavily. Then he looks at his family again and almost doesn’t contain his laughter.

Jason and Steph are laughing, loudly, and even Cass is smiling. Dick is shaking his head slightly but even he cannot be mad at them today. Duke is slowly sinking down in his seat, trying to ignore how everyone is staring at their family now. Barbara is sighing heavily, like she’s unsure of why she’s even there. Pennyworth is sending them both pointed looks. And father looks tired. And not the least bit surprised.

“Not at all,” Timothy answers cheerfully. “Other than saying _thank you_ for our fine education here at Gotham Academy, of course. Who would have thought we would make it? Certainly not me, that’s for sure. Took a look of work.” His voice is dripping with sarcasm and fake politeness. He truly is a Wayne.

“Fourteen hours at least,” Damian mumbles. Timothy cannot help but laugh at that and even Damian snickers into his hand although he tries to cover it with a cough. The headmistress sighs heavily, and so does father, and Damian knows she cannot wait for this to be over with, and for Tim and Damian to be out of her hair. She carries on with the ceremony.

When Damian is handed his diploma his whole family stand up to cheer for him. Even father.

**

“We have a kidnapping on the docks,” Batman says, “and a break-in at the Gotham Museum.”

“Can’t help,” Jason grunts, “I’m trying to – _fuck_ – bust a drug-ring in – you _shit_ – my own area.”

“Language,” Batman says.

“I’m in a fight!” Jason shouts back.

“Do you require assistance?” Batman asks immediately.

“I’m good, B, don’t worry your pretty head about it. Oh, you asked for it, you _little_ – “ and his comm cuts off.

Batman sighs. “Okay, I will take the museum on my own. Robins, go to the docks.”

“Roger that, B,” Robin says.

“Yes, Batman,” Red Robin agrees.

They soar through the air. When they land at the docks they quickly find the kidnappers and attack. They are quick and efficient, precise and thorough. They are not messing around. This is not a game, this is not for fun, although it is what they love doing the most, where they feel the most comfortable and at ease. They are lethal. They are dangerous.

They are Robins.

**

**Author's Note:**

> Suicide scene: basically, Ra's kidnaps Tim and Damian and forces Damian to chose between himself and Timothy. Damian chooses to keep Timothy alives and Ra's thus wants Damian to kill himself which he almost does - but is of course saved by his family! 
> 
> That sounds very heavy, wow. 
> 
> Thank you for reading!


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